![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/a9f48192-f213-4663-a255-00952c3f0e40.jpg\")
Bishop Titus Masika shows the Star a demonstration farm at his home in Yatta, Machakos county \/ GEORGE OWITI<\/p>\nBishop Titus Masika shows the Star a demonstration farm at his home in Yatta, Machakos county \/ GEORGE OWITI<\/p>\n
Machakos county was rocked by media reports
\nin 2008 about a woman who died of hunger after giving birth to twins in Yatta.<\/p>\n
Touched, Bishop Dr Titus Masika left
\nNairobi city for the village, a man on a mission.<\/p>\n
Recounting the story to the Star, Masika said he headed to the then very remote and dry subcounty to train communities on \u2018mindset change\u2019 and to practically help them produce food. As an arid and semi-arid lands (Asal) area, Yatta was reeling from erratic rainfall, water scarcity and food insecurity. <\/p>\n
Masika got out of his comfort zone, a posh home in one of the high-end estates in Nairobi, and settled at Kinyaata village in Yatta subcounty.<\/p>\n
His goal was to transform lives by making
\nthe locals self-reliant, food and financially secure and also reduce mortality
\ndeaths due to inadequate food and nutrition.<\/p>\n
Masika is the founder of the Christian
\nImpact Mission, a Faith-Based Organisation started as a fellowship of
\nChristians who were trying to help the villages where they came from in matters
\neducation and livelihoods. <\/p>\n
He believes his resolve for moving to the
\nvillage was not in vain. Eighteen years later, it has borne fruits.<\/p>\n
The village where Masika\u2019s home is located
\nis now known as a \u2018breadbasket\u2019. <\/p>\n
The project includes a bakery producing
\n5,000 blocks of bread daily, enriched with orange-fleshed sweet potatoes,
\nbenefiting local farmers and hundreds of local communities.<\/p>\n
Looking back, the retired high school
\nteacher said the woman\u2019s death happened years after he had bought land in
\nKinyaata village.<\/p>\n
\u201cI bought this piece of land in a dry area.
\nIt was green then when I bought it since it was in November during the rainy
\nseason, but when I returned in February, it was very dry and I felt cheated,\u201d
\nMasika said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo mitigate the situation, I made a water
\npan for myself so I could have a source of water for my poultry, livestock and
\ndomestic use.\u201d <\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t settle on his farm immediately
\neven after the water pan was completed.<\/p>\n
Later on, there was a drought between 2006
\nand 2011. A national initiative emerged amid this plight in 2008 called \u2018Kenya
\nfor Kenyans\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got it from the media that Yatta people
\nwere seriously affected. Their livestock had died and they hadn\u2019t harvested for
\nmore than 10 years,\u201d Masika said.<\/p>\n
A local newspaper reported that a woman had
\ndied after giving birth. She had no food, died of hunger and her twins were
\nleft suckling in vain. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis touched me and I decided to move from
\nthe city of Nairobi to come down and help that community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u2018MANUFACTURED POVERTY\u2019<\/p>\n
The locals were so needy when he got to the
\ncommunity that he felt helpless.<\/p>\n
However, he had faith and confidence that
\nthe people could be food-secure and regain their dignity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had drafted a model after studying the
\nmodels of development in Africa,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
The model was called \u2018Empowered Worldview
\nfrom Mindset Change\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cI realised and observed that generally in
\nAfrica, it wasn\u2019t about lack of resources, capital or anything else since as a
\ncontinent we have more rains,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe rains we receive in ASAL areas are
\nsufficient, more than what other countries in other continents receive.\u201d<\/p>\n
So he felt the problem was more about
\nmindset. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the same problem in Ukambani, Lake
\nand Coast regions of Kenya, as well as other countries, like Tanzania, Uganda
\nSouth Africa \u2014 everywhere all over Africa,\u201d Masika said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI discovered that because of the history,
\nAfricans have a dependency syndrome, which in Kamba we call \u2018mwoiyo\u2019 (relief)
\nmindset,\u201d he said. \u201cIn other communities like the Luo, it\u2019s called \u2018gonya\u2019
\nmindset.\u201d <\/p>\n
He explained the mindset as believing \u2018We
\nare poor, Africa is poor, our community is poor, so help us. Our country is
\npoor, so, the West, help us\u2019. And that this concept cuts across the minds of
\nthe village boy, woman, man, chief, up to presidents of Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of that mindset, we have
\nmanufactured poverty which is untrue. It isn\u2019t there, it\u2019s only a mindset
\nbecause we aren\u2019t poor,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAfrica has mineral resources, natural
\ncapital and human capital. We also have sunlight throughout, almost 12 hours in
\na day every year, which isn\u2019t the case in other parts of the developed world.\u201d<\/p>\n
CHANGING THE NARRATIVE<\/p>\n
Masika said Africa is the recipient
\nconsumer of finished products because of \u2018our mindset\u2019, and due to that, \u201cWe
\nare not advancing.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said having realised all these
\nchallenges, he invented a model called \u2018Empowerment Model\u2019 and a one-acre rule:
\nHow to do one-acre farming after mindset training and become food-secure,
\ncreate wealth and employment. <\/p>\n
\u201cI realised in Africa, we talk about rain,
\nthat we don\u2019t have enough rain. We don\u2019t need rain to do agriculture, we need
\nwater,\u201d Masika said. <\/p>\n
He bemoaned how people living near
\nfreshwater lakes are poor. <\/p>\n
\u201cTana River flows through to the Indian
\nOcean, yet the communities living around it are poor. River Athi starts from
\nNgong through Athi River and Kibwezi, yet this is the belt where people are
\npoor,\u201d Masika said.<\/p>\n
He said the first colonisation was not done
\nwhen there was a lot of rain but where there were rivers.<\/p>\n
In Masika\u2019s model, this is called the Aden
\nprinciple. The principle embodies the idea that \u2018a river flowed from Aden and
\nwatered the land\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo you use water to do agriculture. If
\nAfricans got that principle, then Africa and Kenya alike would not be
\nfood-deficient,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said most African countries have big
\nrivers, which can make the continent rich.<\/p>\n
Masika said it\u2019s for these reasons that he
\nestablished the transformation model, which runs on the motto: \u2018Operation
\nMwoiyo Out\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is where we do mindset change. That,
\nwe have resources within ourselves, outside us, within our environment. And
\nusing all the available resources within our environment, we can change,\u201d he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The cleric said he had to study all the
\nworldviews in world history not only to be graded in class but for him to
\nunderstand why Africa is the way it is and why we are poor yet we have
\nresources.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I came to Yatta, I knew the word
\nYatta meant dry and indeed, it\u2019s dry,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
The Government Economic Survey had
\nindicated that Yatta was among the poor of the poorest in the region. <\/p>\n
\u201cI did the first water pan, called the
\nlocals and encouraged them to do their own,\u201d Masika said.<\/p>\n
Using the Empowered Worldview model, he
\ntrained the residents to become self-reliant, self-sufficient and
\nself-sustaining.<\/p>\n
By 2009, there were about 1,300 water pans
\nin homesteads in Yatta, and that\u2019s how the subcounty\u2019s transformation started:
\nby mindset change and water pans for food production. Two years later, the
\nwater pans grew to 4,500, enabling locals to practise agriculture throughout
\nthe year.<\/p>\n
GOVERNMENT INSPIRED<\/p>\n
Masika said former President Uhuru
\nKenyatta\u2019s government borrowed his model in 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the Head of Public Service in the
\nlast government passed through Yatta in 2018 when there was disaster, he came
\nand borrowed my model,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government then constructed many
\nhousehold farm ponds across the country and in the county. It also did some
\nmore in Yatta subcounty.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said there are more than 8,000 water
\npans in homesteads in Yatta subcounty currently. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople think in terms of large-scale dams,
\nbut water pans for small-scale farming is a game changer,\u201d Masika said. <\/p>\n
He cited small-scale household farm ponds
\nfor small-scale farms that are fitted under the one-acre rule.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one-acre rule gives lots of advantages
\nbecause you can grow crops when others are not growing. If you grow during the
\nhot season, prices go up. When prices go up, you get more money. So you
\nelongate the period for farming,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Masika said such farmers can then do simple
\ncottage industries.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe, for instance, make bread out of fresh
\nsweet potatoes. We fortify with the wheat flour,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy doing so, many people grow sweet
\npotatoes. They have a market and when you make bread, you can sell it back to
\nthe community and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said by creating such-like new products,
\nwealth is created, too. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf we all took the value chain and
\naddition, we would have created wealth and jobs in the country,\u201d Masika said.<\/p>\n
He said his farm was the first to become a
\nplace for training and benchmarking. Many development agencies had invested
\nheavily in Africa, yet there was not much change to be seen due to high
\ndependency.<\/p>\n
The cleric believes that development is
\nwhat people are helped to do for themselves.<\/p>\n
He established a training centre in his
\nfarm where individuals, churches, NGOs, government agencies, governments and
\nother organisations go for learning and benchmarking.<\/p>\n
Masika said they developed a curriculum on
\nMindset Change and Economic Empowerment, which they have trained across the
\nregion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe empower people to go and train others.
\nWe began with champions who go to train others,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe inspire development agencies to use a
\npeople-based as opposed to a project-based approach, which hasn\u2019t given any
\ntransformational change in Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said they had replicated the project in
\nBaringo county.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter succeeding, we decided to go to the
\nNorth Rift. We chose Baringo because we realised it looks like the centre of
\nNorth Rift. We celebrated our 10th anniversary of existence in West Pokot in
\nDecember last year,\u201d Masika said.<\/p>\n
CHARITY WORK<\/p>\n
Away from farming and mentoring, Masika
\nlikes giving back to the community. He does not do it for recognition but has
\nreceived local and international acclaim for it, including from charity
\norganisation Tearfund.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a human being, when people recognise
\nwhat you are doing, it gives you inspiration and encouragement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Masika said the government has recognised
\nhis initiatives and efforts to improve humanity by branding him a national
\nhero.<\/p>\n
He received the Elder of the Burning Spear
\naward during Mashujaa Day celebrations on October 20 last year for his
\nhumanitarian service through Operation Mwoiyo Out and famine relief
\ninitiatives. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s the founding director of Christian
\nImpact Mission, focusing on empowering communities to become food-secure and
\nself-sufficient.<\/p>\n
He got a similar award from the presidency
\nin 2023: Order of Great Warrior Award.<\/p>\n
The cleric said his Christianity is about
\nhelping people to develop capacities to have better livelihoods.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do it as my service to humanity as a way
\nof Christianity, working and serving as a Christian,\u201d Masika concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bishop Titus Masika shows the Star a demonstration farm at his home in Yatta, Machakos county \/ GEORGE…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17972,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[1140,11277,11274,11275,1722,100,152,101,99,11276],"class_list":{"0":"post-17971","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tanzania","8":"tag-agriculture","9":"tag-empowerment","10":"tag-farming","11":"tag-irrigation","12":"tag-machakos","13":"tag-star-news-kenya","14":"tag-tanzania","15":"tag-the-star","16":"tag-the-star-newspaper","17":"tag-titus-masika"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}